Chase
Don’t Chase!
One of the cardinal rules of poker is: Don’t chase. The whole idea is that if you are behind in a hand, the odds of you catching up almost never justify chasing after the pot. For instance, you are behind with a small pair and have 16% chance to win the hand. If you play every hand out, you win 16% and you lose 84%. Or, if you can only win 16% of the time then the pot must be laying you very high odds of about 5.4 to 1 to justify continuing in the hand. The most common “chase” situations can be summarized in these three situations:
A. You call a bet to see the next card when holding a drawing hand and the pots odds do not justify the call.
B. You play a drawing hand pre-flop despite the odds and then continue on the flop, turn and even the river because you already have chips invested in the pot.
C. Playing to hit a “miracle card” to win a big pot. Miracle cards offer the worse odds in poker, you can be drawing to as low as one or two outs.
The lesson here is simply: Don’t chase. Certainly play a drawing hand but be ready to muck it, when the odds turn against you.
-this is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #195
